Colonial Space Rockets
First published in New Zealand in 1881, the second volume of science fiction novella The Great Romance lay hidden on the shelves of Dunedin’s Hocken Library until the 1990s when the work was discovered….
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Finding Precious
Tauranga-based filmmakers Lance and James Morcan are searching for the best person to take on the role of four-foot-nine power-lifting champion Precious McKenzie. Ranked the best weightlifter in South Africa, McKenzie, now 71, was…
Touting the Youth
New Zealand ‘the youngest country’, is the new focus of Tourism New Zealand’s international branding. Tourism chiefs have called in London PR agency Henry’s House as they revive the country’s popularity post-Lord of the…
London from home
New Zealand author Emily Perkins leans out to close a window at her publisher’s in Soho and “raising her voice over a building site, takes a deep breath of London air to say, ‘It’s…
For the Good of All
Lake Karapiro in Cambridge is the headquarters for Rowing New Zealand’s centralized training programme which has produced “one of the strongest rowing squads in the world” on a budget of just four million dollars….
Kosher in Canterbury
Christchurch is visited by some 20,000 Israeli backpackers annually, and to cater for these numbers, the city will soon be home to New Zealand’s first kosher restaurant. Rabbi Mendy Goldstein, formerly of Brooklyn, New…
Oliver the Oxonian
Former Highlander Anton Oliver, 32, will play the last rugby matches of his career at Oxford University while he studies for an MSc in Biodiversity, Environment and Management. Oliver, winner of 55 New Zealand…
Out of the Shade
Sir Richard Hadlee and his father, Walter are probably one of the most successful father-son sporting combinations according to the Guardian’s Will Buckley, but this son doesn’t want to be compared. Richard Hadlee,…
An Intelligence Question
James Flynn, Emeritus Professor of Political Studies at the University of Otago and moral philosopher, says human intelligence has improved over the last century, rather than declined as was widely thought. “But,” Flynn…
NZ Pop’s Work Permit
Auckland band Ruby Suns has the UK press “salivating” over its latest guitar-pop album Sea Lion, with other acts like the Brunettes, Connan and the Mockasins and Lawrence of Arabia proving…
Cattle for Capital
New Zealand dairy farmers are benefiting from a worldwide demand for milk and cheese with Fonterra Cooperative Group members promised big payouts for their efforts this year. Never before has the term “cash cow”…
Union Commute
First five-eighth and fullback Aucklander Nick Evans has signed a three-year contract with English side the Harlequins for the 2008-2009 Guinness Premiership season. Considered the high-quality understudy to Daniel Carter, Evans is one of…
Royal Interlude
Filmmaker Andrew Adamson’s Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, shot in New Zealand, Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia, has been released worldwide. The release comes just before Adamson takes a break from what has been…
Geometric on the Bay
The 1931 Napier earthquake devastated the Hawkes Bay region, but two years later Napier was rebuilt and an Art Deco masterpiece. The Sydney Morning Herald’s Rebecca Lancashire pays a visit and “wanders the city…
Safety in Cyber-space
New Zealand-designed educational software Hector’s World, which teaches children about the dangers of online aedophiles with cartoons, has been launched at St Vincent de Paul RC Primary School, in Westminster, Central London. Hector’s World…
For the Whales
Actress Keisha Castle-Hughes, 19, has joined the Save the Whales Campaign and is urging the New Zealand government to reject Japan’s proposal to resume commercial whaling in its waters before a June 22 International…
Economic Hardware
In 1949, New Zealand engineer and economist Professor William “Bill” Phillips astonished the London School of Economics revealing his “do-it-yourself” creation: an analogue computer model of the workings of the British economy. The Monetary…
Comedic Eclecticism
Flight of the Conchords have “a gift of genre-blending that makes even David Bowie’s efforts pale in comparison,” writes London Time Out. Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie shift comfortably from the soft-hitting hipn hop…
Weathering the Storm
Rotorua-born and Ruatoria-raised political campaigner and artist Tame Iti has the leading role in a Europe-bound performance based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Iti will perform in Tempest II with the 15-member Mau Dance Company….
The Highest of Achievers
Colin Murdoch, inventor, pharmacist and self-taught engineer, a man who designed something the world could not do without, has died in Timaru, aged 79. Murdoch led an extraordinary life; creator of the disposable syringe,…
Debating the Warrior Gene
The Mongrel Mob feature in an episode of BAFTA award-winning BBC documentary Ross Kemp on Gangs, in which Kemp explores the history of the gang, formed in Hastings in the 1960s. He follows members…
Berkett Settles In
Neil Berkett is eight weeks into his role as chief executive at Virgin Media and already has battle scars. Actually, he explains in an interview with Sunday Times reporter Andrew Davidson, he just banged…
Oram Fit for Lords
Palmerston North Black Caps all-rounder Jacob Oram, 29, has recovered from stress-related injury and is braced for the first Test against England at Lords on May 15. Oram’s economy rate of 2.4 is the best among…
Singer Performs on Ice
New Zealand singer/songwriter, Mihirangi has returned from a trip to Antarctica where she filmed a video for her latest single No War. “They put me on this iceberg all by myself!” she said. “It…
Breathing Clean Air
New Zealand is a haven for environmental refugees and in this BBC World Service programme, one of six in the Global Perspective documentary series, four immigrants discuss their new home. In Escape to New…
Chopped, but Not Out
New Zealander Mark Simmons, 29, a sous chef at New York restaurant Public and until recently a contestant on popular reality show Top Chef, wants to open his own restaurant in the Big Apple…
Paquin in beautiful 100
Academy-Award winner Anna Paquin, 25, features on US Men’s magazine Maxim’s 2008 Hot 100, the “ultimate list of the world’s most beautiful women.” At number 50, Paquin is described as the: “sexy, troubled, and…
Reed Races for US
Palmerston North-born Matt Reed is 6-foot-5 and the world’s tallest triathelete. Two weeks ago Reed, 32, won the US men’s team trials in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and secured a place on the American Olympic team….
Exploring the Lab
New Zealand is where the revolution will happen and a “perfect place for an ideas summit,” writes journalist Craig Sherborne in an essay entitled ‘Not all Black and White: Inside…
Otago Examines Obesity
A University of Otago study has found that obesity in women may worsen the impact of asthma and also mask its severity in standard tests. The findings were published in the first issue for…
Investigating a Colossus
Te Papa’s colossal squid, the largest ever caught, has created a worldwide media furore making headlines from South Africa and Germany, to Iran and Uruguay. Very little is known about colossal squid; only…
Autumn and Rainbows
From Takaka, Telegraph foreign correspondent Peter Foster writes a weekly blog on life in the small South Island town, population: 1,182. Foster was the Telegraph’s South Asia Correspondent for four years until January 2008…
From One Village to Another
New Zealand journalist Thomas Butson began his career in copy at New Zealand’s Truth, followed by positions at The Toronto Star and from 1968 at The New York Times. In 1992 Butson and his…
Bond Says It Like It Is
Shane Bond, ex-Black Cap fast bowler and now in the money at the Indian Cricket League’s Delhi Giants, says the decision to go to India is a “no brainer“. Though he will double his income,…
New leathers for Lawless
Lucy Lawless, has been both trawling the back streets of West Hollywood for replacement leather chaps and performing at the Carling Academy in Islington, London. The lesbian icon, just turned 40, talks to Time…
Great spirit returns
New Zealand’s favourite wizard, Sir Ian McKellen will return to the country to reprise his role as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings prequel, The Hobbit. McKellen had told Empire before he was…
Legacy Well Spent
In a helicopter from Queenstown and beyond, over Lake Whakatipu and the Remarkables and then down through Milford Sound, The Mail’s John Stapleton is spending his son’s inheritance on New Zealand scenery. Queenstown is:…
Nadal’s NZ Predecessor
Christchurch-born and educated Anthony Wilding was a world tennis champion from 1911-1914, and up until this week held a 90-year undefeated consecutive record for winning four titles in Monte Carlo. Overall, Wilding…
Pastoral in pieces
Auckland pebble mosaic artist John Botica has created what is considered, in the specialist publication Mosaic Art Now, one of the world’s top 100 contemporary mosaic works. Botica’s ‘Tree of Life’ was commissioned by…
Outfoxing furniture
The small town of Pokeno in Franklin district, Auckland is behind ex-Thompson Twin Alannah Currie’s latest artistic foray, a display of surreal furniture on show at London’s Ragged School. Under the moniker Miss Pokeno,…
Two Hobbits of a Kind
Peter Jackson is joining forces with Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro to make the two back-to-back film adaptations of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Jackson will co-produce the film with fellow director Fran…
Trade Relationship Anniversary
In 1983, New Zealand and Australia signed the Closer Economic Relations trade pact, and this year, on the 25th anniversary of the agreement, chief economist of the Australian Trade Commission Tim Harcourt reflects on…
From a Common Ancestor
Auckland Museum’s “most ambitious” travelling exhibition Vaka Moana – Voyages of the Ancestors is currently at Taiwan’s National Museum of Prehistory and the National Museum of Natural Science. University professor and editor of the…
Lange’s Working Class
Pioneering filmmaker New Zealander Darcy Lange’s work screened in New York’s Lehmann Maupin gallery as part of group show, You & Me, Sometimes… A “textured” and “cool” show according to The New…
Island Calling at Festival
New Zealand filmmaker Annie Goldson’s An Island Calling, featured at the Canadian International Documentary Festival, explores Fiji’s infamous 2001 murders of Red Cross boss John Scott and his partner. “The facts are known about…
Global Positioning Sleuths
Rotorua has always been famous for its geothermal activity, now another ‘geo-‘ is making its mark around the city, less the sulphur. It’s the sport of geocaching, a kind of outdoor treasure-hunt practised worldwide….
Maori Role Models
New Zealand is a model for Canada in improving its relations with indigenous populations. By adopting lessons from the Maori experience, a report by the Winnipeg-based Frontier Centre for Public Policy is urging a…
Scaling the Opera Ladder
New Zealand tenor Geoffrey Knight is a versatile individual, a former member of motorbike gang Highway 61, a stuntman, actor and deep sea trawlerman, Knight is currently performing Gilbert & Sullivan’s operetta Utopia Limited…
Lucky Dagg at the Logies
Comedian and writer John Clarke, born in Palmerston North and famous for creating the “elegantly dressed” farmer Fred Dagg and his seven sons, all Trevors, will be inducted into the Australian Logies Hall of…
Art of Ice
New Zealand artist David Trubridge features at San Francisco’s Natural World Museum in an exhibition entitled Melting Ice: A Hot Topic, which addresses the theme of climate change from a global perspective. Trubridge’s…
Surfing Rhapsody
Raglan may be home to “one of the world’s best left-hand surf breaks”, but the town is also garnering international interest for its relaxed isolation and its arts scene. “Bohemian” Raglan writes the Lonely…
Thank Goodness for Spreadable
One of the greatest inventions of all time, according to the New Zealand Post, is New Zealand’s spreadable butter, and the Telegraph’s Bee Wilson agrees. “If it weren’t for the New Zealand Dairy Research…
WOWed by India
Wellington’s annual Montana Wearable Arts Awards continues to entice greater number of international participants to enter in the “ultimate arts competition”. A recent preview of this year’s competitors saw the final design entries from…
Keoghan the Sportsman
New Zealand television presenter Phil Keoghan donned a kilt, picked up a 7 iron and hit a golf ball across Scotland. As host of The Amazing Race, Keoghan has travelled the world and done…
Together at Arms
A new sculpture of a New Zealand digger will be unveiled on the Anzac Bridge in Sydney. The digger will stand guard on the other side of the road, opposite its Australian equivalent, thus…
Dame Kiri’s festival circuit
Soprano Dame Kiri te Kanawa is to perform at three North American summer music festivals – Washington D.C.’s Wolf Trap, Chicago’s Ravinia and the famous Ontario Elora Festival on July 13. Elora artistic director…
